Gabriele Fiorentino was born and raised in Duesseldorf, Germany. After completing high school, she chose Miami as her home. She is a University of Miami Alumna with an MBA in Marketing. After working at Burger King Corporation, and the advertising agency Beber Silverstein and Partners, she has been focusing on business and investment opportunities together with her husband, Patrick Fiorentino. Currently, their efforts are centered on developing a truffle orchard in North Carolina.

Fiorentino has a long-standing interest in the Arts. For almost a decade she was involved in many educational projects presenting arts in the public school. This interest has evolved into supporting and building Dranoff’s Piano Slam program, whose mission it is to use music in order to enhance learning.

Trans-national disputes have unique legal challenges that Maxine Long has tackled for 30 years. She often uses her own creative strategies to handle issues ranging from international negotiations to dispute resolution and post-judgment remedies. An experienced partner in the Miami Litigation Department, she focuses on resolving disputes for companies and financial institutions in the U.S. and abroad. Clients include individuals, corporations, foreign and national banks, and government entities. Her work with a local church has also led to a side niche--counseling churches of various denominations.

The international aspect of Long's practice is extensive, with cases often involving foreign banking transactions and contract disputes. She has experience with cases under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, as well as various treaties and conventions, and is particularly skilled at handling cases that span multiple jurisdictions.

She joined Shutts & Bowen in 1980, following a clerkship with U.S. District Judge C. Clyde Atkins. Long is listed in Who's Who in American Law, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in America, and Who’s Who in the World.

Susanna Moross Tarjan was born in Los Angeles and raised in New York. She moved to Miami in 1968 when her husband, Peter Tarjan, was hired by Cordis Corporation. Her sons, Joshua and Aaron, were born in Miami. She spent several years in the real estate business. However, when her father, the composer Jerome Moross, died in 1983, she began managing and promoting his music. Among other projects, she has produced five recordings, a short documentary about her father's life and is working on a full-length documentary for his 100th birthday in 2013.

Alexander Tecle was raised in Miami, Florida. With a unique cultural heritage and insatiable appetite for personal and professional development, he has fervently displayed his aptitude for tackling myriad endeavors. As a Florida State Alumnus, Mr. Tecle procured a Bachelor of Science in Finance degree as well as Bachelor of Science in Accounting. Within a few short years, all the while upwardly progressing and working full time within the ranks of Fidelity Investments, he also found time to complete his Masters of Business Administration from Florida International University and is only months away from completing a Masters of Science in Taxation at Florida Atlantic University.

In such a high stress environment, Mr. Tecle has maneuvered seamlessly from positions of Trade and Client Support Representative at TradeKing, to Investments Representative, and to his current position as Premium Services Account Executive at Fidelity Investments. A key modus operandi for Mr.Tecle is that he stays grounded in his community and actively involved with organizations that stretch, strengthen and stimulate intellectual growth beyond conventional means. He has been involved with Dranoff International for two years.

Robert Cadogan
Cadogan Communications

Robert Cadogan is an accomplished communications professional who has been an integral adviser to clients across numerous industries. He possesses extensive experience with top-tier media, financial communications, and crisis and issues management. After mastering his PR craft in boutique and global agencies, he formed Cadogan Communications, a public relations agency, in 2014. Cadogan’s corporate presence and problem-solving acumen has allowed him to interact regularly and confidently with the C-Suite, as well as Business Units and internal communication teams to drive business strategy.

A Burson-Marsteller veteran, Cadogan is known for driving a brand through innovative corporate storytelling and navigating it through numerous Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned (PESO) communication channels. He has been the architect of numerous strategic communication campaigns, as well as thought leadership activities that produce a winning national and global image. He has developed and supported Annual Reports, Corporate Sustainability Reports, and other corporate materials. Moreover, he regularly consults on social media strategy and messaging that produces alignment with corporate communication goals.

Mr. Cadogan is a top crisis communications counselor who has been integral to clients across all industries. He has effectively managed plant closings, industrial accidents, security breaches, supply chain failures, corporate litigation, HR issues, and product liabilities. In several instances, he has managed complex crises for cruise lines in international waters. Time and again clients state they appreciate Cadogan’s calm and focused nature in such tense moments, and how effectively he gets them through the crisis period.

Cadogan managed and sustained such brands as Coca-Cola, Bacardi, Merrill Lynch, Accenture, Ford, IKEA, Costa, CertainTeed, Gerdau, Odebrecht, PriceSmart, United Healthcare, and HBO. The common denominator in these engagements was always executing the fundamental elements of brand architecture and utilizing the PESO channels (Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned) of communicating to all stakeholders and influencers. Thus, he always ensured the brands were communicating across all platforms and impacting their target audiences to operate in a proactive versus reactive mode.

Crisis and Issues management is an area of expertise for Cadogan where he has led a number of client teams successfully through significant situations. He has always maintained that preparation in anticipation of a scenario is the key to success, and counseled his clients to look at crisis through a prism of normal accidents, abnormal accidents, and natural accidents.

Heidy M. Frank
Associate Wealth Manager Bank of New York Mellon

Heidy Frank is an Associate Wealth Manager with BNY Mellon Wealth Management in Miami. Heidy has 15 years’ experience in client relationship roles of increasing responsibility, including regional head for Nokia [ former Alcatel-Lucent]. Heidy also worked in both SunTrust and Merrill Lynch prior to joining BNY Mellon. Her affiliations include the Financial Planning Association and the CFA Florida chapter.

Originally from Brazil, Ms. Frank has been in Miami for over 25 years. Heidy is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese with a working knowledge of German. She holds a BBA from University of Miami. with majors in Finance and Marketing. Heidy achieved her Masters from Babson College with a specialization in Entrepreneurship.

In addition to Heidy’s professional interests, she has a firm belief in the importance of being involved in the community. Ms. Frank is a member of and has actively supported the Key Biscayne Yacht Club, Act4Me Foundation, and on the board of Babson Florida Alumni chapter and Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation.

Patricia NealPresident and CEO Acies Strategy Group

Patricia M. (Pat) Neal is President and CEO of Acies Strategy Group, an international strategic communications agency. Previously, for 13 years, she was Vice President and head of global corporate communications for Bacardi Limited, the largest privately held spirits company in the world with more than 200 brands and labels and operating in more than 150 countries. She oversaw all crisis and issues communications, external, executive and internal communications, social responsibility communications and brand communications globally. Ms. Neal has an extensive journalism background, serving 17 years at CNN in a variety of roles—producer of the network’s primetime newscast, supervising producer overseeing the entire network’s coverage, foreign correspondent and bureau chief in Jerusalem during a spike in the intifada and correspondent and bureau chief in Cairo during the first Gulf War. She also was political producer and correspondent during multiple senate, congressional and presidential campaigns and was lead for CNN’s US-Cuba coverage for ten years. She has been multi-awarded in both corporate communications and journalism.

Kristin Podack

Kristin Podack combines a passion for science with a passion for music. Following a BA in English from the College of William and Mary, she continued studies in Chemistry and the Basic Sciences at Columbia University and the University of Miami.

As a pianist, Kristin Podack has studied among others with Prof. Vera Zathurezcky Lendvay, Department of Music, The College of William and Mary, and Dr. Rosalina Sackstein, Professor Emeritus, University of Miami The Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music.

Her professional experience as research associate and fellow spans two decades and includes work with researchers and institutes connected with Harvard Medical School, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York, and the National Cancer Center Research Institute in Tokyo. Since 1984, she worked with her husband, Dr. Eckhard Podack, in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, at the New York Medical College, and since 1987 at the UM Miller School of Medicine.

Podack is deeply involved with the community both in the Arts and in Health and Educational areas. She is an Honorary Member of the Medical Faculty Association of the UM Miller School of Medicine, has served twice as its President, and continues to serve as its Chairman of the Endowment, Gifts and Awards Committee.

She chaired various committees of the Young Patronesses of the Opera and served as its 2012-2013 President.

She has served on the Board of the Miami Civic Music Association, and at the various schools her family was involved with. She is currently on the Board of Directors of Florida Grand Opera, Classical South Florida and is the Chair of the St. Hugh Steinway Concert Series. Further, she manages the career of pianist Roberto Berrocal.